President Barry Mills’ announcement on Monday that Dean for Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd will be leaving the College for the Mellon Foundation means that two of the highest-ranking officials in the College are stepping down this summer. Since Judd is the administrator with the most impact on the College’s curriculum and faculty, her departure gives us an opportunity to evaluate the state of academics at the College and to share our hopes for certain changes under President-elect Clayton Rose.
The Dean for Academic Affairs Office may seem detached from student life, but it has a tremendous impact on the academic experiences of the entire student body. And while the College has found several ways to collect student input on academic matters—including class surveys at the end of each semester, lunches with prospective professors, and student-written recommendation letters for faculty who are up for promotions—we would like to see more direct and impactful student involvement. Students should be be part of tenure and faculty search committees, and student feedback should weigh heavily in any decisions regarding the curriculum. Our next dean for academic affairs should institute changes that increase the transparency of what is now an opaque office.   
In 2005, the year before Judd’s arrival on campus, the Orient reported that just three of Bowdoin’s 150 instructional faculty members were African American. That same year, 20 out of 190 faculty members identified as minorities, according to the College’s Common Data Set. This year, that number is 32 out of 235, meaning that even now, less than 14 percent of Bowdoin’s professors are minorities. Bowdoin has the third lowest percentage of minority faculty in the NESCAC, trailed only by Bates and Connecticut College. Increased faculty diversity has been a goal for at least 10 years, yet the College still has a long way to go. It will be the responsibility of the new dean for academic affairs to follow through on achieving that goal.
In the last few years of Judd’s tenure, her office has sought to adapt Bowdoin’s curriculum to the needs of the information age and defend the liberal arts against those who question its value. In an effort to incorporate modern technology into traditional classroom settings, Bowdoin began the Digital and Computational Studies Initiative (DCSI) two years ago. Additionally, computer science has become so popular in the past few years that some prospective majors and minors have been unable to enroll in the department’s courses. The new dean of academic affairs will need to expand the computer science department and continue to carefully integrate technology with the rest of our curriculum.
When President-elect Clayton Rose appoints Judd’s replacement, he will set a tone that will endure for the rest of his presidency. The Board of Trustees indicated its priorities—a balance of financial and academic leadership—when it elected Rose, and now Rose will indicate his academic priorities for the College by selecting a new dean for academic affairs. Unlike President Barry Mills, Rose has experience as a faculty member, and we hope that he will take a leading role in setting the academic policy of the College and working to facilitate collaboration and trust between the faculty and the administration.

President Barry Mills’ announcement on Monday that Dean for Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd will be leaving the College for the Mellon Foundation means that two of the highest-ranking officials in the College are stepping down this summer. Since Judd is the administrator with the most impact on the College’s curriculum and faculty, her departure gives us an opportunity to evaluate the state of academics at the College and to share our hopes for certain changes under President-elect Clayton Rose.

The Dean for Academic Affairs Office may seem detached from student life, but it has a tremendous impact on the academic experiences of the entire student body. And while the College has found several ways to collect student input on academic matters—including class surveys at the end of each semester, lunches with prospective professors, and student-written recommendation letters for faculty who are up for promotions—we would like to see more direct and impactful student involvement. Students should be be part of tenure and faculty search committees, and student feedback should weigh heavily in any decisions regarding the curriculum. Our next dean for academic affairs should institute changes that increase the transparency of what is now an opaque office.   

In 2005, the year before Judd’s arrival on campus, the Orient reported that just three of Bowdoin’s 150 instructional faculty members were African American. That same year, 20 out of 190 faculty members identified as minorities, according to the College’s Common Data Set. This year, that number is 32 out of 235, meaning that even now, less than 14 percent of Bowdoin’s professors are minorities. Bowdoin has the third lowest percentage of minority faculty in the NESCAC, trailed only by Bates and Connecticut College. Increased faculty diversity has been a goal for at least 10 years, yet the College still has a long way to go. It will be the responsibility of the new dean for academic affairs to follow through on achieving that goal.

In the last few years of Judd’s tenure, her office has sought to adapt Bowdoin’s curriculum to the needs of the information age and defend the liberal arts against those who question its value. In an effort to incorporate modern technology into traditional classroom settings, Bowdoin began the Digital and Computational Studies Initiative (DCSI) two years ago. Additionally, computer science has become so popular in the past few years that some prospective majors and minors have been unable to enroll in the department’s courses. The new dean of academic affairs will need to expand the computer science department and continue to carefully integrate technology with the rest of our curriculum.

When President-elect Clayton Rose appoints Judd’s replacement, he will set a tone that will endure for the rest of his presidency. The Board of Trustees indicated its priorities—a balance of financial and academic leadership—when it elected Rose, and now Rose will indicate his academic priorities for the College by selecting a new dean for academic affairs. Unlike President Barry Mills, Rose has experience as a faculty member, and we hope that he will take a leading role in setting the academic policy of the College and working to facilitate collaboration and trust between the faculty and the administration. 

This editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Garrett Casey, Ron Cervantes, Sam Chase, Matthew Gutschenritter, Nicole Wetsman and Kate Witteman.